Spirit Animals: Saving The Evertree

Working

Conner woke and stretched. Sleeping on a cot wasn't exactly comfortable. He got up in a sitting position and massaged his numb leg. To his left, Kirat was still sleeping with Carbaro lazily slumped on the ground between them. Carbaro must have sensed Conner watching because he looked up and yawned staring right back up at him.

Conner looked away. He turned to his right expecting to find Meilin snoozing in her cot and the empty cot that was Rollan's but instead he found her cot empty and Briggan watching him curiously from Rollan's cot. How'd Briggan even get up there?
He shook his head. He had other things to be thinking about. Like where was Meilin? She probably just went to do her shift early. Conner thought. She did like to get things done. Conner yawned and stretched again. He better get to work too. He jumped down from his cot and Briggan followed.

"Time to go to work buddy." He said quietly petting Briggan's head so he wouldn't wake Kirat.

He silently made his way up the shallow stairs leading to deck. Once he was up, he notice that the deck was mostly empty. Only a couple redclocks were working. The rest must have been asleep. Conner also noticed it was still dawn. The morning light barely making its way trough the clouds.

"Here to work early?" Asked the fox-faced Redcloak.
Conner nodded. "The sooner I get it done the sooner I go back to bed." He said.

She laughed. Conner noticed her mask had delicate carvings and patterns making be mask look real. It was really pretty compared to Shane's mask. Featureless. And in Conner's opinion, creepy. Briggan barked in what sounded like agreement.

"Well you can start by helping the cooks make breakfast." The Redcloak said leading him back down below decks.

Conner nodded. They walked past Kirat and Carbaro, Briggan growled as they passed, and through the arched doorway and into the maze of halls. The Redcloak effortlessly went this way and that knowing the way by heart. They stopped at a small room, smaller than the main one they were staying in, filled with a stone stove, cobblestone oven and wooden cabinets on the walls. Wooded chairs and tables filled any extra space. About 5 or 6 cooks carried plates of what he guessed was beef jerky, bread and stew with broccoli and a meat that reminded him of the rat stew they ate in Zhong.

"Hello." The Redcloak said greeting the cooks. They all stopped to acknowledge their temporary leader.

"Good morning." They all replied.

The Redcloak nodded. "Anyways this is Conner. The boy who summoned Briggan the wolf." She said gesturing to Conner and Briggan. "And he'll help you with whatever you need for now." All the cooks nodded with pleasure. "Ok then, I'll leave you guys to it." She said and started to walk away.

"Wait!" Conner said holding out his hand. The Redcloak turned.

"You've helped a lot so, thanks. What's you name?"

The Redcloak paused them replied, "I'm Lucy."

Conner nodded. "Thanks Lucy."

Lucy smiled. Even behind the mask Conner could tell. Conner turned back around and stood there not knowing what he was supposed to do.

"We'll come on now. Don't be shy." One of be cooks said. And elderly women dressed in a dull pink T-shirt covered by a stained apron. She had thin brown whisky hair and light peachy skin. A crimson cloak covered her shoulders. He noticed that she didn't have a mask. And the other cooks didn't either. "Come on now boy." She said nudging his arm avoiding Briggan. He followed her to the other side of the room to a table pushed against the wall below a row of cabinets. She opened one of them reveling spices and packages of stale bread. She grabbed a package and some herb and handed it to him. "Break every loaf in half and sprinkle some of this on it." She instructed walking to another table. "My name's Elsie by the way." She said smiling then throwing a chunk of jerky she was holding to Briggan.

"Do you have a spirit animal?" Conner couldn't resist asking.
The elderly women stopped. "Funny you ask, boy." Elsie said with an amused grin. "Do I have a spirit animal?" She repeated playfully. Conner stared confused. "Or am I a spirit animal?" She laughed and walked away snickering leaving Conner in confusion.

After a moment of processing what he had heard, Conner did as he was told and broke each round loaf of bread in two then sprinkled some of the green herb on top all the while thinking about what the women had said. How can you be a spirit animal? He wondered. He had never heard of such a thing. Being a spirit animals would mean being an animal right? It is called a spirit animal after all. But how is that possible? How can a human be an animal? He thought about how the redclocks moved with swift agility and grace. The grace of and animal alright. But yet there was no spirit animal in sight.

"Good job lad." Said a man with an Amayan accent interrupting his thoughts. He was tall and lean and had a thin mustache. He was wearing a brown shirt covered with an apron and his hair was covered with a chef's hat, a Redcloak hanging on his shoulders. He carried a big plate on which he put each of the half loaves Conner had broke and sprinkled. "You've done a fine job. You work very efficiently too." The man said with a nod. "How about you take a brake from bread breaking and help me take set up the table?"

Conner nodded. "Sure."

The man gave him a stack of Zhongonese plates. He followed the man back to the main room where they placed the plates down and on each a half-loaf of bread. "Follow me."

They went back to the kitchen, well Conner assumed it was the kitchen, and they brought out a big plate of pepper jerky placing a small handful on each plate and of course a few went to Briggan. Next they went back to get the soup. They each held 2 bowls at time and brought them to the table placing them next to each plate. They also brought utensils. Once they were done, more redclocks arrived for their breakfast.

"Good job lad." The man said. "You're a wonderful helper. Maybe you can help again some time." He handed Conner a bowl of soup and a spoon then he headed back to the kitchen. Conner went over to his cot and drank his soup happily abandoning his spoon. It tasted good, but it really reminded him of that rat soup.